Published 12:00 am, Monday, July 12, 2010

OAKTON, Va. -- As if there was any question to the UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma and his staff's ability to judge talent, we give you the U.S. Under-17 national team roster as exhibit A as the 12-member squad features 10 players who have been recruited by the Huskies.

Leading the list is UConn commit Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, a rising senior at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif. While Mosqueda-Lewis' arrival at UConn is much anticipated, the recruiting-obsessed among the UConn faithful must be in basketball heaven when they realize that five of the six members of the high school Class of 2012 on the squad are currently on the Huskies' recruiting radar.

Breanna Stewart, a heady and versatile forward from North Syracuse, N.Y., and fellow UConn recruiting target Jordan Adams, a high school teammate of Mosqueda-Lewis, fit the bill of the type of player the Connecticut staff pursues -- athletic, aggressive, highly skills, intelligent and unselfish.

However, don't look for any commitments coming in the immediate future from Stewart, Jordan Adams, Morgan Tuck, Imani Stafford or Jewell Loyd.

Stewart, in particular, has been the subject of scuttlebutt saying she will commit to UConn once a scholarship is offered. When asked about the rumor after the second of four practice sessions in the greater Washington area, Stewart had a good chuckle.

"They can think that but I haven't decided to go anywhere," Stewart said.

"It's hard because I am looking at a lot of schools, I am talking to a lot of schools right now. I haven't narrowed anything down, I am just listening to what they had to say and thinking about it. I want to have the right choice."

The story is the same for the other high school juniors to be on UConn's radar.

Adams is familiar with how quickly Mosqueda-Lewis decided that UConn was the perfect fit for her. While she said she would love to check out a practice at UConn in the winter like Mosqueda-Lewis did when Mater Dei headed to New England to play a game in Springfield, Mass., she is in no rush to pick her college of choice.

"Kaleena felt like that was what she needed to do and we support her in everything, but I am going to take a little more time," said Adams, a 6-foot-1 guard. "A little bit, I am still looking at my options. I don't want to cut anything off, everything is open at this point."

Those who like to partake in recruiting gossip believe that Adams is likely to stay out West but she was pretty ambivalent about how much geography would play in her decision.

"I like California, I like the West coast, but there are some good schools in the Northeast and the South," Adams said. "I guess to know, you have to take a trip to a school."

Tuck, a refined and versatile 6-foot-2 forward out of Bolingbrook (Ill.), focused most of her energy on getting healthy after suffering a serious knee injury in the 2009 U-16 national team trials. Tuck was elated to be able to play without a knee brace for the first time on June 16. When she returns from France, she will have more time to think about recruiting. College coaches can't call her until Sept. 1.

"It is about when I feel a place where I feel like I am at home so when I find that, that's when I will (commit)," Tuck said. "I've been to some of the camps local to where I live. I think after Sept. 1 when they can start recruiting, that's when it will get more serious. Distance, it is kind of like a give and take. I want to be close to home, but I want to see what it's like to live somewhere different."

Asked specifically about UConn in an interview with the Register, Tuck had lofty praise for the Huskies.

"UConn is a great program, they are undefeated two years (in a row) so I don't know who wouldn't want to go there," Tuck said. "They are the best team in the country right now."

Stafford, a 6-foot-7 post player from Los Angeles, and Loyd, a 5-foot-9 guard from Lincolnwood, Ill., have only recently started to draw interest from UConn.

Loyd is being very tight-lipped about the process as she stated "I leave the basketball and hard work to me and let my family make the decisions. Right now I am just focusing on basketball."

Stafford seemed somewhat stunned that UConn is interested in her.

"UConn is just a (great) program," said Stafford, who is planning to take unofficial visits to Stanford and Southern California before the end of the summer. She has already taken an unofficial visit to Duke. "UConn, there's a lot of pressure, but just to play for UConn and be on the bench, that is an honor so whatever happens, happens."